3 reasons why the U.S. Open course is playing so easy

ERIN, Wis. – Day One of the 2017 U.S. Open looked less like a U.S. Open and more like a standard PGA Tour event. Rickie Fowler pieced together an impressive bogey-free seven-under 65 which, truth be told, could’ve been even lower. A host of other under-par players aren’t far behind.

There were some high scores to be had, of course: Dustin Johnson , Jason Day and Jon Rahm all finished well over par, but those were the outliers. Relatively speaking, Thursday was an extremely easy day by U.S. Open standards. Here’s why.

1. The Weather

A high in the low 80s, wind that never crept above 10 mph, never dry enough for the course to bake, you couldn’t have asked for a better scoring day than what we were handed on Thursday at Erin Hills. Rain looks like it’s on the forecast for the rest of the week, which means there are two ways it could go from here:

Option one would see the rain come hard, making the course play even longer, the rough impossibly dense, and sending scores much higher.

Option two involves the rain lightly sprinkling Erin Hills. Id that happens, the course will only play easier. The already-soft greens will become even more receptive, and the longer hitters at the top of the leaderboard will begin throwing darts at every pin they see.

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2. The USGA

“Controversial” is perhaps the best way to describe the last two U.S. Opens. Conditions at Chambers Bay were borderline at best. The course baked to such an extent that the greens became incredibly bumpy, and the layout of the course itself led to widespread backlash. And let’s not forget the Dustin Johnson rules debacle of last year.

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Simply put, the USGA needs a chaos-free U.S. Open this year, so they’re making sure they’re getting one. The fastest the greens will roll all week is about 12. They trimmed the heaviest rough after evidence of an overspray issue. They cut the fairways plenty wide. The players won’t have much to complain about this year — and if it means allowing a few more birdies along the way — that’s probably a deal they’d be willing to take.

3. The Layout

Jordan Spieth said earlier this week that the winner would probably shoot five to ten under, and you can see why. Erin Hills is not an easy golf course: It forces you to hit driver and if you don’t hit it well, you’re left to hack out of some gnarly rough.

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But the flip side of that is also true: There fairways are legitimately wide — up to 60 yards at points — and if you keep your drives in the fairway, the hard part is done. That’s what Rickie Fowler did on Thursday (he hit 12 of 14 fairways in round one), and that’s what the winner will have to do for the rest of the week.